Once again, LOVE IS FOR EVERYBODY - even the gay ones! (rant)

Today's post is another one I pulled out my butt this morning, just because I'm so upset.

Right or wrong, I'm going to speak my mind and I am going to defend and support those I love and care for.  I believe it's the right thing to do!

Along with fostering, I also used to work with teens.  Although I don't do that in any regular or official capacity, I do have a special connection with the teens in my life, and if they need me, I'm here to listen to them and support them in any way I can.

I was met by a teen who was feeling suicidal and needed to talk.  Before I go further on that, yes - I know what to do in these instances & yes, I followed the proper protocol.

To continue, I listened to the fears of this person;  How they had been beaten, verbally abused and made to feel worthless because of their life "choice."

Yes, this teen is gay.

I did everything I could to find ways to make this person feel better, to bring them up emotionally - to let them know they ARE good & God loves us all.

Firstly, I'm not gay.  I'm a happily married heterosexual woman.  I'm Christian.  I go to church and I believe in what the Bible teaches.

I don't agree with fellow Christians using the Bible as a tool to slam others.

The Bible says, "Do unto others as I do unto you"

Luke 6:31

I think being LGBT homosexual is an incredibly difficult road to travel, but I am NOT going to turn my back on the people that I love who are gay, because they are gay.  I'm not going to tell them they're bad or wrong or that they're going to hell.  It's not my job to judge, it's God's.  I'm going to love each and every one of them, support THEM.

"You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." 

~Matthew 7:5

I made the "error" of openly showing my support to this child & my other friends/family on Facebook.  I say "error", because I had no idea how much hate my post would insight - and in the name of God.

Does this face ring any bells?

I had to delete the post completely for fear that this child would see those postings and further believe they are nothing and don't deserve to live.

Last I knew, none of us are perfect.  We are ALL sinners & we are ALL going to have to face God when we die.  Maybe God will be mad at me for defending "the homosexuals" OR maybe he will thank me for loving my brothers & sisters - regardless of who they are.  I don't know and neither do you, until your time comes.

 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” 

~John 13:34-35

Some of you called open support "drama".  Some of you have taken or will take offense to this postings.  I can't help you there.  I'm a strong minded, strong willed, loving, caring woman who wants to heal the world.  I can't imagine that I am the one that God is shaking his finger at.

Besides, there may be a day where I'm defending YOUR honor.

I may not be perfect, but neither are you!

God's Love is for everyone!  For you, for me - oh, and yes - even the LGBT community homosexuals too.


Maybe next time when you go to pick up that next rock to throw at the "different" person - check yourself & see how many rocks are getting ready to head your way.

So, as I end this - let me ask you...
If you found out tomorrow that someone/anyone took their life as a result of your response to my post - how would you feel?  Would you feel that you have completed God's mission?  That you've helped to further God's kingdom?  Would that be better for you?

...Or would giving God's love and acceptance be enough for you?

Thank you for reading my blog rant.


~Jenn

Til death do us part... (unless he kills me first, lol)

Occasionally my husband and I joke around about what will happen when the other one of us "goes."  He usually starts it, to give me a hard time. :)

For certain, I can say that he will have his work cut out for him trying to date, because our daughter would NOT make things easy on him.

I could very clearly see her sabotaging any/every date he tries to have.

He, of course, said there would never be another. (I may have been sharpening knives at the time, lol)

I told him that if he goes before me, that's it - I'm done.  I'm not getting married again, I'm done.  I'm good.

Not only do I not have the will, desire or patience to "train" another man - I'll never find another "Waggy."  And I don't want one!

He jokingly said, "no, you'll date.  You'll go call that sailor guy."

To set the record straight, the past is the past and that's where it belongs.

If my hubby goes - I'm done.  Truly!

Well, maybe I'll get a cabana boy?

In all honesty - I know I'm a pain in the butt!

It takes a very strong man to be able to handle me.  Yes, I said handle.
As loving, giving and caring as I am, I'm high maintenance, no matter how badly I want to say I'm not.

I'm  a temperamental, independent, strong minded woman who is very "set in her ways."  Absolutely, positively no piece of cake.

I grew up raising my two brothers.  I was the oldest.  I was in charge.  My rules, my way.  It's what worked and that's how I operate.  I have a very specific mind set of how things should be.  Like I said, I'm good.

My husband truly deserves a medal.
Lucky for me - he can deal with my quirks.  Oh, don't you worry - he's got a good lot of his own little quirks.  He was single for a very long time & fairly set in his ways as well - so our differences seem to work in a way that the wheels turn properly.
That is NOT easy to find!

And I don't want to even bother to try!

I may be flirty and silly - maybe a little outlandish at times, but when it really comes down to it - when I go home, if I can't go home to my "Waggy" it's just me & the kids (or the cat.)

Til death & til we meet again.

Thank you for reading my blog!

~Jenn

No...you don't get a trophy for showing up! Oh wait, yes you do...

Not  my daughter's room

The other day, I was dusting the trophy shelf in my daughter's room.

I grabbed one of her trophies to check it out.  Then I looked at the amount of trophies she has.

For every sport she's participated in, there is an accompanying trophy.

Since I was feeling all nostalgic, I decided to dig out my old cheerleading trophy to share with her.

Yep, hers is the big one 

I've only got one now, because I have no clue where the others may be after all these years.  (I've only got 3)  This one I had handy because I'm particularly proud of it.  I was "Miss Yell."  Good to know my big mouth came in handy at least once in my life.

Beaming with pride, I showed her my trophy only to be met with, "Why is it so small, mommy?"

Ugh, shot down!

It was all I could do to blurt out... BECAUSE I EARNED IT!  But I restrained myself.

Truth is, "back in the day" they didn't just hand out trophies because you participated in the sport.  You actually had to do something to merit receiving a trophy.

I also went to catholic school & when we competed it was at and against another catholic school, the nuns were the judges & they were none too kind about it brutal.

You needed to be on your game or they made you cry.
I kid you not.

After being shot down - I decided to let allow my daughter to hold it and her revel in the pure weight of my magnificent (very tiny) trophy.

"Wow, that's heavy, Mommy."

Well yes it is, sweetie (beaming with pride) - it's real marble & real metal. (not like the cheap ass trophies they give out now)  Truth be told, it could hurt someone!

Ok so...what the heck are we teaching these kids?  Just show up and you get a prize?  What is this, the Big Top?  Step right up, everyone gets a prize???  What happened to the hard work and drive?

The WANT to win and succeed so you could get a much sought after trophy?  To be your best!  To go for what you want and never give up!

I don't get it.

I do not, at all, agree with the every one's a winner philosophy.

No, sometimes there's a loser and you need to be good at that too! (The world needs sandwich makers, right Lynne?)
Sorry, no trophies for that.  Yet.


Hang tight though, I'm fairly sure someone may come up with one.  Ya know, so the losers don't feel bad.

When I was in cheer, I was pushed hard to be not just good, but better and best.  Like I said, they'd make you cry.  They didn't pull any punches - if you sucked you'd be very aware of it.

Sometimes you need to suck!  You need to know where the suck-fest starts and where the goal line is so you can run toward it!  You need to be properly guided, to know the best way to get there & you need to be pushed along.

If you fall down - stop crying.  Brush yourself off and get moving.

I can't control what happens outside my front door.  I can only control what happens inside my home.

I will welcome my daughter's many participation trophies but I will never stop telling her that even though she's great - she can always do better, there's more & go get it.

Never give up!


The world is your playground.  Rock it baby!

Thank you for reading my blog!

~Jenn

Oh for God's sake, will you please get over yourself!

You can't always be the Belle of the Ball... Sometimes you get to be the one who falls down the stairs as you try to gracefully descend them.

That, would be me :)

Once upon a time, I was a princess & I twirled around in my pretty dress.  It was fun, but I never really needed the attention.

 I always preferred to hang back and watch.  To do my own thing & not roll with the crowd.  "Dance to the music in my head."

I was generally the one with the "brilliant ideas," even though I was incredibly naive & scared to death of everything.

One morning while walking to school, junior  year I believe, we got about half way to school.  (and YES we did WALK 2 miles each way to school)   We got to the elementary school, sat on a swing to rest & I just blurted out..."Hey, let's cut school."  I was with Pam & I forget who else.  Pam said, "Ok, what do we do?"  I didn't know either - but we just turned around and went back to my house.

We had a fun 'ol time, but of course got snagged eventually.

Most of my not so fabulous decisions have made the best memories, but awful examples...so Victoria - I know you're reading this, Auntie Jenn says, "don't do as I've done!"

In my teens, I kept a fairly good distance from things that made me feel uncomfortable.  Believe me - no matter what I thought was bad, someone else was doing something way worse!

While some of my other "friends" were dabbling here & there - I hung back & did my own thing.

I didn't need any help being led into temptation...I already had the road map inscribed into my brain.

Sadly, no one really cared what I did.  As long as no one was inconvenienced, all was well.

When my friends really began dating, I was scared.  I had boyfriends, but as I got older, the "expectations" were higher.  I was scared to death - so I kept things at arm's length.

When I finally fell, I fell hard.  We broke each others' hearts continually.  We eventually ended up with other people but remained close.  Even though it was years later, I took it incredibly hard when my first "real love" died.  I shut down.  I was young, relationships were scary & people kept dying on me.

I no longer felt like the "Belle of the Ball."

I felt confused & made lots of mistakes.

There are things I wish I'd handled differently, but I've no regrets.

Much time has since passed.  The years and greys have collected.

I may not have tons of men at my beckon call, but I'm good with that.  I have my one and only Prince Charming and I am his Belle (yes, I know I'm mixing up Disney stories).  There's no one else who's beckon call I'd rather be at.

I take much pride in my family and in my commitments.

I have all I've ever wanted.

Yes, I do continually fall on my face - who cares!

I'm over it!  I've never really needed to be the Belle of the Ball.

I've always been pretty content to be me & continue to dance to the music playing in my head.

I'm sooooooo over myself.

I'm only here for a little while.  I'll fall on my face and embarrass myself many, many more times in my little life.  But I will also have my little shining star moments as well.

The trick is to not let the brightly lit star moments blind you from those stairs you're about to fall down!

(face plant)

Thank you for reading my blog!

~Jenn

OMG did you just call me fat???

(Originally posted August, 2011)

As most of you know, my husband and I are foster parents.

We've recently been blessed with a new "little chickadee", as I refer to our foster babies.

She's the cutest, sweetest little thing - and entirely too much like me!

No filter - she thinks it, she speaks it.

She is also a Virgo, so she shares those little compulsions I have.  I thought it was incredibly funny when I set her up for her bath & got her the "wrong panties".  She was wearing her monkey pajamas & I did NOT get her the monkey panties - I got her the color coordinated pink ones...
How dare I??

In any case - as I said - this little girl is just the sweetest little thing.  She and I spend a fair amount of time together and she is very well adjusted to our home.  Maybe a little too well adjusted...

The other morning, while in the midst of a wardrobe conflict - she walked over to me, poked me in the butt and said "Miss Jenn, you're fat.  You need some exercise."

What did she just say to me??  Oh, Yes she did - she called me FAT!

Now mind you, I'm not exactly the 120 lb chippie I was 10 years ago, but I've had a rough few years.  Between being sick & pumped up with steroids, I have packed on a few lbs.  HOWEVER, being I just lost 20 of those lbs, I THOUGHT I was starting to look a lot better...  There I go thinking again...

My doctors have also doubled my one medication, so at the beginning of the week, I'm totally and completely wiped out.  And I've now got a summer cold on top of it all... So working out not top 10 on my to do list.


Clearly, I must be way fatter than I think, because this little girl is relentless with no regrets....

So now I've been on the Elliptical at least once a day, every day for at least 10 minutes.  I am eating my yogurt and my fruit. And YES it hurts my joints and YES I'm doubly tired!

Hopefully, I will be able to shed the rest of what she sees.

In my defense, she is butt level - so of course it looks HUGE.

A word of advice with my friends who's filters do work...  the words are, "Wow, Jenn - you look fabulous.  Have you been working out??"  And I'll say, "Why yes, thank you for noticing..."

Hopefully our little miss will be far enough away to not correct you.

Talk about a kick to the ego!

120 lbs - here I come (Ha!)

Thank you for reading my blog!

~Jenn

Nickelback - April 19, 2012 - Madison Square Garden Review

Along with my usual silliness, sarcasm and my very Jenn Words of Wisdom, I also share my totally unsolicited opinions and reviews of things - the good, the bad and the ugly.

Today - NICKELBACK!

On Thursday night, I attended the Nickelback concert at Madison Square Garden with my lovely friends.

Great show!

Yeah - I say that a lot, I know - but pre-bloggie days there have been concerts that I was DYING to see and then left feeling very underwhelmed.  I just didn't have the outlet that I have now.

First let's talk about the opening bands...  I'd love to say that I'd ever even heard of the band, My Darkest Days.  I haven't - but I also missed them along with Seether (who I love).  Bummer.

My girlies and I decided we needed to eat and have a few quick little drinkie-poos after being stuck in the Lincoln Tunnel & NYC traffic for 2 hours... So -- oops, no review there.

Am I disappointed - eh - slightly.  But I'm over it.

What makes up for it you ask??  Ok you didn't ask - but I will tell you... 

Bush / Gavin Rossdale.
Um Hello... Totally and completely smokin' hot!!  AND he took a little stroll through the audience from one end of Madison Square Garden to the other.  Seriously - he was 2 feet away from me - if he shook his head, I'd have had Gavin sweat on me.  Gross, but that's how close he was.

They did an amazing job & definitely left you wanting more.


The main event - Nickelback!

Chad Kroeger interacts with the crowd, which I love!  The light show & pyrotechnics were very cool - they shot "free stuff" out into the audience & flew a "space ship" out over the crowd.  They sounded great and I was disappointed when it was over.

I wasn't left wanting as much as I was with Bush - but then Chad is no Gavin Rossdale (sorry, dude).

Negatives...He drops the F-Bomb like he's being paid for each one.

I'm no angel, but I found it was excessive and it fell under the category of "not necessary."

I'm a big heavy metal fan & I've been to much harder shows where the guys are pretty raw & they didn't need to f-bomb it through.  Nickelback is really better than that.  I may be a "momma" but like I said, I'm a heavy metal rockin' mom...Don't make me get the bar of soap, Chad!

They also did NOT perform one of my favorite songs "If today was your last day."

I was sure that it would be the encore song - but no encore.

All in all...good show.

I'm no spring chicken.  My ears hurt & I was tired.  The show ended after 11 pm - long after my bed time & it was a long trek home from NYC to the mountains of NJ.
Strolling in at almost 1 AM on a work night isn't usually in the cards for me.

On a scale of 1-10:

Bush:             8 1/2 Only because they didn't play longer.  Their performance was stellar.

Nickelback:   7       Because they left me hangin'

Would I go see them again - most definitely!

Thank you for reading my blog!!

~Jenn